The problem with AVOs

By Jacinta Tynan

In all the reporting on John Edwards' murder of his two teenage children, Jack Edwards, 15, and Jennifer Edwards, 13, much has been made of the fact that their mother did not have an AVO against him.

The lack of AVO is how he was able to buy the guns he used to shoot dead his two children as they cowered in a bedroom, but it sheds no light whatsoever on the circumstances that led to this heinous crime.

An AVO would not have made a shred of difference for a man who had been planning an attack for at least two years, as police claim. He was going to do it anyway.

It’s rare to see reporting on domestic violence homicides – where men are known to their victims – without referring to the status of protection orders. It may not be overtly stated but the veiled inference is that if there’s no Apprehended Domestic Violence Order, as they’re called in NSW, against the perpetrator then he can’t be all that bad. It must have been a brain snap. A one-off. Or, more damagingly, if the victim didn’t take out an AVO, then it’s somehow her doing.

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“The implication is, 'How did she not know he was violent and do something about it? Why didn't she stop him?'” says Karen Willis, Executive Officer of the NSW Rape Crisis Centre.

“We always ask, ‘Is there an AVO?’ We don't ask about his behaviour. ‘Why did he murder?’ It is victim blaming.”

In the case of John Edwards, Willis says she was also troubled by the constant references to the children being "home alone" at the time of the murder.

“It’s implying the mother [Olga Edwards] wasn’t protecting her kids. It was 5:20 pm. They were teens. She’d done her best to keep the address a secret. None of this is her fault.”

Olga Edwards was estranged from her husband John EdwardsCredit:LinkedIn

While 80 per cent of protection orders are effective in getting the perpetrator to change their behaviour, they are no guarantee.

Rosie Batty had a long-standing AVO against her estranged partner Greg Anderson when he killed their 11-year-old son, Luke, in full view of bystanders at cricket practice in 2014.

Ann O’Neill, whose estranged husband murdered her two children, 6-year-old Kyle and 4-year-old Latisha, while they slept next to her and attempted to kill her before taking his own life in Perth in 1994, says she often felt like the accused.

“The most common question I got asked was, ‘What did you do to ‘make’ him do that?’" O'Neill says.

"People asked, ‘Did you take him to court? Had you had an affair? Did you let him see his children?’ The media was rife with it. We often look to the victim and ask, 'What strategies did you put in place to stop this?'"

O’Neill didn’t have a Violence Restraining Order, as they’re called in WA, against her ex-husband at the time of the murders because his abuse – stalking, harassment and intimidation – was not considered enough to qualify at the time. Since then, O'Neill has lobbied hard to successfully change the state's law to include covert forms of abuse in family violence restraining orders.

But there still are many reasons why women don’t resort to protection orders against abusive ex-partners.

When my friend Amy* called the police over the constant abuse being meted out from her ex-partner to her and her two young children – still living under the same roof because he refused to move out and she had nowhere else to go – she was asked if he’d threatened her life or physically assaulted her. Not exactly. But the fact that he yelled and swore at her daily in front of their two young children and made them swear at her too, meant nothing.

Living constantly on edge not knowing what would set him off was not grounds enough for the police to enforce an AVO, nor was it enough to get a protection order from the courts from this unhinged man who was terrorising them.

If she applied for an AVO herself, it would mean him appearing in court where, the police pointed out, “guys like this” will most likely lie to protect their name and often initiate what Willis calls "duelling AVOs", further aimed at intimidating and harassing the victim.

When Amy decided against it, it only fuelled her ex’s bravado.

“They hand out AVOs like chocolate bars and you couldn't even pull one off,” he taunted her. The lack of AVO became his latest weapon.

“It’s incredibly challenging to get a protection order,” says Willis. “You have to convince police you’re in need of protection then go through the court process, take time off work, always looking over your shoulder. Some women fear it will escalate the situation. All of the characteristics of abuse are the very things that make it difficult for her to stand up to him.”

Our role, as journalists, is to be conscious of these complexities when reporting each case.

As O’Neill says, “The only thing worse than having your family murdered is being blamed for it.”